Of periods and pots....

These four gorgeous women - Pramila, Sita, Samjhana and Rita- have all just been on a big adventure. Last month, the wonderful artists from the Orkney retreat at Shrinemont made us a very generous donation. The ladies decided to use some of the money to travel to Kathmandu, a 20+ hour bus trip...a challenge.  For a long time, we have wanted to visit Thimi Ceramics, to learn about their wonderfully run organisation. Then we were invited to attend the launch of Nepali Menstrupedia.  Quite some time ago, we were researching ways to best get information about sexual health and menstruation to our community. We discovered that an Indian publication was being translated by an organisation called Putali and we contacted them and asked to be kept informed about the progress.  We were invited to the launch of the books which included the screening of a movie about chaupadi where women are banished from the home while they have their periods and every Winter, women die from exposure as a result.Read what the ladies said about their trip.We thought the Program of Putali Nepal was very good because it made us aware of our health and safety.  We did not know everything about our menstruation. The organization has developed a comic book for all the teenage girls but it was very helpful to us too.  We will read this book to our little sisters too.(This photo at the right shows the ladies showing some of our jewellery at the launch! People were very interested in what they wore!)The program was so special because the organizer of the program arranged the taxi for us to go back to the hotel because it was very late for us after the event.  We learned why women in the western part of Nepal are so vulnerable when they got their period.  They have to stay in the cowshed during the period and this is called chaupadi.  We really appreciate the work done by the organisation because the book will help every girls of our society.We also went to Thimi Pot making place.  The work they are doing is very beautiful and very creative. The management was very organized and the way they keep the pots are very Systematic. The work of Thimi was totally based on local mud and we feel if we could stayed there for some time we could easily learn more that would be good for polymer clay. We felt very proud of our work which is very unique so we loved our work and also we admire Thimi work too.  Our tour was so effective because even though we were nervous about travelling to Kathmandu, we learned to be independent. We got awareness of our menstruation and learnt from the organized work of Thimi. We all Tour group wants to thank you to Samunnat family Friends and specially the Orkney group who made this trip possible.  We spent some of the donation to buy 25 of the comic books about menstruation.  Thank you also to Wendy Didi for inspiration to make the trip and make an effective journey.